Homecoming
by Rose Aarac
Summary: The only thing better than the angst of taking Booth away from Brennan? The fluff of giving Booth back to Brennan!


Homecoming, A Bones FanFic

**Homecoming, a Bones FanFic**

_**Summary: The only thing better than the angst of taking Booth away from Brennan? The fluff of giving Booth back to Brennan.**_

_**A/N: My first FanFic, to be uploaded anyway. Reviews (good or bad) are welcome! **_

_**Disclaimer: 'Bones' is the copy-righted work of its writers, producers and Fox. Seeing as I am none of those, I do not own 'Bones'. No copy-right infringement intended.**_

**Chapter One: Two Months, Two Weeks, Four days**

He said he'd come back. He said he didn't want to go, but he didn't have a choice. If she wasn't so upset that he had left, she would rationalize that this was due to his alpha-male tendencies and the duty that he feels for his country.

But, he'd been gone for two months, two weeks and four days, and she was upset that he left. But she missed him, too. Before he had left he had given her a key. He said that it opened a safe in his office and that if he didn't come home, she should open it and go through its contents.

She didn't even want to think about what would happen if he didn't come home. So, she pushed these thoughts back into their compartments and focused her energy, as well as her mind, on the Limbo case at hand.

"Dr. Brennan?" asked her new grad-student Clark Edison. "The remains are ready for your examination, now."

"Thank you, Clark." She looked at the examination table in front of her. "Victim is female, approximately 25-30 years of age, five-foot-six, 125 pounds, Caucasian. I don't see any obvious bone trauma, do you?"

"No, Dr. Brennan, I don't. Her file says she was found in a lake near here. She could have drowned."

"I concur. Did you have any trouble reconstructing the skull?"

"No, Dr. Brennan I did not."

"Good. Please take the skull to Ms. Montenegro, and give her all the information we have so far. Have her run that and a facial reconstruction through all the databases. I will now do a more in depth examination of the bones, to make sure that we didn't miss anything."

"Yes, Dr. Brennan." Clark placed the skull on an evidence tray and carried it to the artist's office. "Angela?" The young man said as he entered. "I have a skull in need of a face."

"Oh jeez, another Limbo case?" This was met with a nod. "I figured," Angela continued, taking the skull. "Brennan has refused to do field work until Booth gets back. I think that him going to Iraq so soon after Zack left has broken her heart. At least he should be home soon. I don't know how much longer Bren can make it."

Clark sat down on the couch in Angela's office. "Angela, I only worked one case with Agent Booth before he left. I didn't know him that well, but even I could tell that he had strong ties to the people here. Why did he go?"

"Clark, Booth is a man of honor. Of honor, and of duty. Before he worked for the FBI he was in the Rangers, as a sniper. They needed him to take care of a mission for them, and the duty he felt for his country made him leave."

"I suppose that makes sense. What I can't figure out, though, is why he would leave Dr. Brennan."

"I know what you mean, Clark. I can't figure it out either."

**Chapter Two: An Empty Home:**

By the end of the day, Brennan, with the help of Angela and Clark, had identified the victim from Limbo as Sherry Gregerson, a 28 year old woman who had gone missing two years prior. The cause of death was accidental drowning, and currently all Brennan wanted to do was drown all her pain (metaphorically of course) in whiskey. Or wine. Or beer.

_No, not beer_, she thought. _No beer until Booth comes back._ She stopped her car at a red light and looked at the clock. It was 9:47 at night. She smiled to herself thinking about how proud Booth would've been to see her go home so early.

That thought left her head as the light turned green, and her foot pressed on the accelerator. She drove the rest of the way to her apartment on autopilot. She got her mail from the lobby mailboxes, and entered her apartment.

She ignored the spot where Booth's unopened beer had sat for two-and-a-half months, the spot where he had fallen to his knees and cried into her stomach when he had told her he was leaving and the spot where his green jacket was laying, where he had left it, on her couch. These spots caused her pain, and pain was not something that Temperance Brennan cared for.

Going through her mail, after getting a glass of red wine, she found the letter she had been waiting for all week. Sitting on her couch, she took a deep breath, opened the envelope and read silently:

_Dear Bones,_

_The list that they sent me here with is getting shorter. Twenty names, down to two. This is just like all the other times, but it isn't, not by a long shot. These people, because they are people, human beings, did horrible things to innocents, just like all the other times. But this time, this time I see it more. I see the little kids running around them… One of them had a son; he was about Parker's age. These kids, their families, they don't know the horrible people that they are around… They know the people that they love. That's what makes this time different. I see the people they love._

_Bones, I want to tell you something. I want to say I'm sorry for leaving you when I did. I told you I would never leave, but I'd hoped you understood. I realize now, that it was stupid and selfish of me to do that, so I'm sorry. I really miss you, and Parker, and all the squints. When you see them tell them hello for me, please._

_I should be home soon; I can't wait to see you._

_Always,_

_Booth_

It wasn't as long as she had hoped it to be. She sighed as she looked around her empty home, her eyes settling on the jacket lying just within her reach. She grabbed it and quickly pressed it to her face. It still smelled like him.

She got up, and, holding the jacket to her chest, walked to her bedroom. When she felt a tear slide down her cheek, she climbed into bed, without changing her clothes, and laid her head on the jacket. She proceeded to cry herself to sleep.

**Chapter Three: You Can't Drown Sorrow in Limbo**

"Dr. Brennan, thank you for seeing me today."

"Sweets, I don't understand why I am here. I no longer work directly with the FBI and you are an FBI therapist." Brennan ignored his outstretched hand and sat on one of the chairs, with her arms crossed.

"I understand your confusion." Brennan scoffed; Sweets ignored it. "You are here today not as someone who works with the FBI and happens to be a patient. You are here as a patient who happens to work with the FBI."

"I might reiterate that I no longer work directly with the FBI, so you might as well just say that you want to talk to me as a regular patient with no FBI ties."

Sweets smiled. "That's exactly what I mean Dr. Brennan. I would like to discuss what you have done in the time since our last meeting, which was – "he looked at his notes "– almost three months ago. Around the time that Agent Booth went to Iraq." This lifted one of Sweets' eyebrows.

The eyebrow was ignored by Brennan. "I have spent most of my time on Limbo cases, and other work for the museum. Since booth left," she choked a bit; Sweets made a note, "Since Booth left, I haven't done any field work. It was my own decision to not continue to work in the field without -" Brennan stopped. She had revealed too much.

"Without whom, Dr. Brennan? Without Agent Booth?" Sweets pried. "It says in the FBI file that you said, and I quote, 'I cannot continue to participate so actively in FBI investigations, because of the precedence they are taking over my duties at the Jeffersonian.' Is this the truth?"

"Of course it's the truth, Sweets. I have duties that must be fulfilled. I am not simply a tool for the FBI. I have other obligations, you know."

"Like your latest novel, Dr. Brennan? Word on the web is that it is in the works. How's it coming?"

"I," she began, looking for an excuse. "I haven't had a chance to work on it lately. I've been working on cases from Limbo, as I said before."

"Dr. Brennan, it is unhealthy for you to drown your sorrows in Limbo." Sweets figured that getting straight to the point was the best tactic. It turned out to be the best tactic to have a pissed – off forensic anthropologist on your hands.

"I have not been 'drowning my sorrows'! I have been catching up on work that needed to be completed." She used air quotes around 'drowning my sorrows'. If Booth had been there, he would have been so proud.

"Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth has been in Iraq for exactly two months, three weeks, and five days. In that time you have given up field work and your writing, two things that have made you happy, in favor of Limbo. What do you think connects your writing and fieldwork, but not Limbo, to each other?

Sweets was met with silence. Brennan knew the answer, but she also knew that Sweets was going to continue on so she felt no need to answer him.

"The answer is not a 'what', but a 'whom', Dr. Brennan. Fieldwork is something you did with Agent Booth. Your writing was obviously influenced by Agent Booth. Limbo – "

"The characters in the book are not influenced by my life. It is _fiction_, as in _not real_."

"Oh, come on! Everyone's in them! I would be willing to bet that _I'm_ in the next one." This moment of civil bickering was interrupted by Sweets' secretary.

"Dr. Brennan? I have an urgent message from Angela Montenegro. She says that you must go to the Jeffersonian immediately."

"Oh thank God. And Sweets, I don't mean that literally. I'll see you… whenever I see you."

"But our session isn't over yet! We still have a lot of ground to cover on this topic!"

"Bye Sweets!" Brennan yelled as she walked out the door, and headed for the Jeffersonian.

**Chapter Four: Homecoming**

Brennan's heart fell when she saw the back of a man in uniform talking to Angela.

_Oh God, is Booth okay?_ She thought. While mentally scolding herself for mentioning God again, Angela noticed her.

"Sweetie! I have something very exciting to tell you, well, show you really."

"What is it Angela? And who's that man you were talking to over there?"

"Oh, Bren, all in good time. Now, for the sake of my sanity will you please do me a favor?"

"You called me here so that I could do you a favor? Why didn't you send me a text, or leave a voicemail? I would've gladly – "

"No, this has to be done now, and remember, it's for the sake of my sanity." Hodgins snorted at this and muttered something a kin to 'What sanity?' He was lucky Angela didn't hear him.

Realizing that it would be easiest to just do what Angela wanted, Brennan agreed to do the favor by nodding, "Very well. What is this favor?"

"It's quite simple really, and completely painless. All I ask is that you close your eyes, let Hodgins lead you onto the platform and not open your eyes until I tell you to. Sound okay?"

"Fine, whatever." Brennan closed her eyes and held out her hand, waiting to be led.

She felt Hodgins lead her to the platform. He told her when to step up, turn and told Angela "Bombs away!" Brennan restrained herself from commenting on how illogical and unsafe detonating bombs inside the Jeffersonian was because she heard Angela talking to someone.

"Okay, stand here… Perfect! Are you ready?" Pause. "Great. Eeeeeee! I'm so excited. Bren?"

"Yes, Angela?"

"Sweetie, open your eyes."

What Brennan saw, was the man in the uniform. He was facing her now, and his face was one she'd recognize anywhere. They stared at each other in silence for a few moments before he tentatively stepped toward her.

"Bones." He said quietly when he reached the base of the stairs.

Brennan let out a small passionate sob, "Booth!" She jumped off the top of the stairs, into his arms and cried into his shoulder. She felt him spin her around and place her on the ground.

They were still clinging to each other when Brennan mumbled something into Booth's chest.

"What'd you say bones?" His index finger was curled under her chin, and she could see tears in his eyes.

"I said that while you were away, I learned something about love."

"Oh, and what was that, Bones?" He smiled.

"That it does exist." With that she pulled him close and kissed him, hoping it would show all the love for him she had.

It did.

**A/N: This fic is COMPLETE! Reviews would be fabulous, especially to help with my writing… It could be a little while before another fic is uploaded. I like to have them completed before I post. Thanks for reading!**


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